The Dark Knight
by Neil Ryan
Summary: This is my version of the upcoming film The Dark Knight.  It is a sequel to the Batman Begins movie.  In it, Batman continues his fight against the Gotham underground as well as against a new mysterious foe, The Joker.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One 

"No, not again" sighed Gotham City Lieutenant James Gordon as he stared down at the dead body laying on the ground in front of him.

He'd seen it all too often before and knew exactly what the card laying face down on the ground would be: A Joker.

Gordon bent down to scoop it into an evidence bag, but knew that it would turn up the same way that it had multiple times before, no prints, no DNA, nothing. It was almost as if this guy didn't exist.

"Alright folks, listen up" yelled Gordon to the numerous cops around him. "Let's get this crime scene taken care of, I think we all know the media will be here any minute." And with that warning, Gordon turned toward the street and saw multiple vans speeding toward him with their satellite dishes situated atop the vehicles ready to broadcast their messages to the rest of Gotham.

"Shit" muttered Gordon to himself. "Alright damage control folks, no one says a word to these shmucks unless I give the okay."

The body was covered, the last evidence photographed just in time to hide the specifics from the reporters.

"Lieutenant, Lieutenant" came the shouts from behind the police barrier.

"Neither myself nor anyone else here will be commenting on the situation, so just quit now before you really piss me off." Gordon said in response to the shouts of the reporters.

"Lieutenant, is this the work of the mysterious man often known as the Joker?" Shouted reporter Anthony Reese, the peskiest of all the reporters. At this remark, Gordon stopped in his tracks, spun on the spot and headed right for Reese.

"Listen, Reese, you and these theories you whip up aren't doing Gotham or its citizens the least bit of good."

"So Lieutenant Gordon is afraid to address the Joker rumors that have been all over Gotham the last few weeks, does that about sum it up, Jim?"

"Now you listen here Reese…"

"GORDON!" bellowed police commissioner Hughes from the background. "Someone's here to see you, back this way."

Gordon gave one last glare at Reese and followed the commissioner around the corner so the media could no longer see them. It was so dark he nearly ran into the newcomer to the crime scene, who was dressed in head to toe in black and wearing the same menacing look as always on his face. Gordon jumped back in surprise before laughing slightly to himself.

"Jesus, why do you always have to do that?" Gordon complained to the stranger.

"Keeps things interesting." Replied Batman in his usual deep growl. "So what's the story?"

"Homicide, shot point blank in the chest, and guess what we happened to find laying next to the body" Gordon explained as he held up the evidence bag with the Joker Card inside of it.

"So the anonymous Joker is still out there" Batman said, taking the card from Gordon's hand.

"And we have still don't have the slightest lead on him."

"Wait a minute, Gordon, that's no longer entirely true." Interjected Commissioner Hughes.

"What do you mean Hughes?"

"We finally have a witness."

"What? Why are you just telling me this now?" Gordon asked as his eyes blazed with fury.

"Easy Gordon, we just found the witness now. They were up there watching as the murder took place" Hughes said as he pointed to a window a few stories above the alley. "We're bringing her over now."

"Let's get to it" Batman began walking forward but was stopped by the Commissioner, as Batman shot a glare at the human obstacle.

"Listen, you may be the vigilante hero the press eats up, but leave the real police work to us. Besides, we can't let the press know you're here working with us like this."

At this, Batman bent down towards the diminutive commissioner and rasped at him, "Listen Hughes, if this woman knows anything about who this Joker may be, then I am the one that needs to talk to her."

"Fine. But we'll bring her back here though. I'm not ready for the press to know that you're a de facto cop." Hughes said, realizing he was not going to be able to stop Gotham's super hero from doing pretty much whatever he wanted, but still hoping he could get some kind of compromise. "Bring her back Detective" shouted Hughes to the nearest cop.

As Tina Lewis rounded the corner into the back alley, she could hear a deep bellowing voice, and before she knew it, the source was upon her. Almost unable to think as she looked into the Dark Knight's cold eyes, Lewis stuttered as Batman attempted to get any information he could from her.

"Tina, Tina! Relax, there's nothing to fear here." Batman said, realizing he had frightened the young lady who couldn't have been older than 17. After several attempts at calming the witness down, she seemed finally to come to her senses.

"Tina what did you see?"

"It- it- it w-w-was terrible. I was sitting in my room watching TV when I heard this horrible laughter from outside. It-it was like nothing I had ever heard. Not a normal, happy laugh, but a terrible, evil laugh that sent chills down my spine. So I went over to my window to see what was going on. And I looked down, fr-from right up there," she said as she pointed up directly above where the victim lay dead. "And I saw, well I guess it was a man"

"You guess?" questioned Lieutenant Gordon at this vague recollection.

"Well, his body certainly was like a man, but his face, his hair, oh God, his mouth. His face was pale white"

"White? You mean like with makeup?" this time Batman was the one to interrupt Tina.

"No, no, I don't think so. It was like his skin had been burned that color, I can't explain it, but that's just the way it was. His hair, it was a greenish kind of blond, but it was like the hair was dead and just happened to still be hanging around on his head. And, oh God, his mouth. It was like he had lips that went wider than his mouth."

"What?" this time it was Gordon, Batman, and Hughes all at the same time.

"Yeah, it was the most awful thing I had ever seen, it was almost as if his lips had been sliced outward with a knife or something. Oh God, I can't go on, please don't make me."

"Tina, listen, I know this is tough, but you are the only one who can help us, now what was it that you actually saw happen."

"By the time I got to the window I think he had been talking to whoever that guy was for a few minutes, and he was still laughing like a total nut. The man he was with, though, he wasn't laughing at all, he looked terrified. And, then, well, the crazy man, the Joker I think they call him, he turned around so that the other man couldn't see what he was doing, and I saw him pull something out of his pocket. I couldn't see what it was, but I knew what was coming next. He spun on his heels and jammed a knife right into the guy's chest. I turned away and ran into my closet and starting crying, but even though I was sobbing, I could still hear what was going on outside. Laughter, that same maniacal laughter, only this time it was worse, much worse. Oh God, please I can't take it, what if he finds out I squealed, what will happen to me?"

"Tina, you've got to trust me. I will not let anything ever happen to you because of this, do you understand?"

She gave a curt, unconvinced nod as her reply, and they all understood that after seeing that kind of evil in her midst, no one could feel truly safe.

With her story complete, Tina was led away to the station to protective custody at the police department.

"Alright Gordon, I think I've gotten all I can for tonight. I'm off to see what else I can dig up." Batman said as he readied himself for a silent escape up the side of the building.

"What's your plan going to be? Go around looking for men with white faces, green hair and cut up faces who laugh a lot?" Gordon challenged the superhero.

"Any better ideas Gordon?"

"I suppose not, but we can't all go flying off into the night without worrying about consequences, can we?"

Batman gave Gordon a look of contempt at this remark, and spun on the spot, launched his climbing rope onto a nearby building and took off into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 

Ever since Carmine Falcone had been implicated in the terrorist attack on Gotham City several months ago, a new crime family had replaced the now incarcerated Falcone's as the most powerful one in the Gotham underground. That family was led by Salvatore Maroni, the man who had been a long-time rival of Falcone, had now all but destroyed his enemy's forces. Now, though, Maroni was beginning to wonder to himself if it had been worth it. Now that he had become the number one figure in the Gotham underground world, he had become the target for the new District Attorney Harvey Dent and of course, the ultimate coward, the caped crusader himself, Batman. At least Dent had the balls to come after him like a man and not hide behind a mask like the Bat, Maroni thought to himself. But the combined forces of Batman, the renewed vigor of the Gotham City Police, and Dent's brilliance in court had really put a monumental dent in the power of the Gotham mob.

"Boss, hey boss."

Maroni looked up from his deep thoughts at this summoning by one of his top men.

"There's someone here to see you Boss."

"Who is it?"

"He said you'd know."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? For god's sake, you don't even get the guys name? Whatever, send him in, and next time try to do your job, will you?"

Cowering in fear, his henchman retreated and sent in the man. A young, slick looking man dressed in a suit entered the room immediately and sat down confidently in front of Maroni.

"Boss Maroni, I don't believe that we have been properly introduced, and I was in the neighborhood, and thought maybe we should be. I'm…"

With that Maroni cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I'm well aware of who you are Mr. Dent. In fact I was just thinking about you and your small army Mr. D.A."

"Nothing bad I trust?" Dent said right through his cocky smirk.

"I would never" You cocky little fuck, Maroni thought to himself. Keep trying me and see what happens. "So Dent, let's cut through the shit, what's your real reason for being here?"

"Just to put you on notice."

"Hah, let me get this straight, you are trying to give me fair warning that you are coming after me? As I recall it wasn't too long ago that the D.A.'s office couldn't convict a mobster if we shot a man right in front of the courthouse."

"Well, things are changing these days aren't they? If memory serves, myself and my top assistant Rachel Dawes have put away 3 of your top henchmen in the last month, and Carmine Falcone was just put away for 20 years. Now that's my kind of progress."

"Things sure seem that way, don't they Dent? But the thing about the underground, we're not afraid to get our hands dirty to take care of complications like you, so maybe it's me that should be putting you on notice. Your nasty side is famous, especially in the courtroom, but that dark side can't just be restrained to the courts only, can it? I know you Dent, I know what you're all about. You've got a real nasty streak to you, and I know you can't always be the All-American dream, can you? I could use a man of your talents and demeanor, is there any way we could work something out before one or both of us pays the ultimate price for a war we didn't start."

At this offer, or threat, Dent chuckled quietly at the floor and looked up at Maroni with a transformed face that was no longer the charming young face of Gotham's legal system. Instead he coldly stared at Maroni and leaned across Maroni's desk and whispers harshly at him, "Listen Maroni, you're going down, that's all there is to it. Men like you sicken me, and I will personally see to it that you are locked up like your old pal Falcone. The Gotham underground is going down, mark my words."

As Dent gets up to leave, Maroni calls after him, "And once you've done it Dent, once you've put me and my men away and cleaned up the Narrows and the rest of the slums, who do you think the citizens will remember and worship for this? Do you really think that they will remember Harvey Dent as the reason things are cleaned up in Gotham? Of course not. You know who will be worshipped? The Batman, that's who, he's already the talk of the city, not our hard-working D.A. who does the real leg work while Batman is nothing more than a glorified detective. It's a real shame. It really is."

Dent kept his back toward Maroni the entire time with his hand on the door knob, unable to leave. After a moment of contemplation, Dent finally walks out the door and out of Maroni's office.

"Think about my offer or you'll regret it Dent." Maroni called after the District Attorney as the door slammed shut between them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

"The big story of the night" said the talking head newswoman on the television screen, "is the report of yet another brutal murder in Gotham that may be the work of the mysterious Joker who the police still have next to no lead on." At this point in the broadcast Alfred Pennyworth's attention was diverted from the screen to a much more pressing matter, the man for whom he worked.

"Ah, Master Wayne, I was beginning to wonder if you may be pulling an all-nighter."

"Something came up Alfred on my way home from work."

"Why yes, sir, it's been all over the news, but surprisingly, no coverage or word that Batman was there."

"Yeah well, the police don't want anyone knowing that I'm working with them. They seem to think it's a bad idea for the media to see me working with them. They prefer that I be viewed as a loner who isn't capable of anything but street fighting."

"Ah, I understand, Commission Hughes doesn't want you stealing his glory for the recent work against the mob."

"That obvious, huh?"

"Quite so sir. So what is the next step in locating this Joker figure?" Alfred asked, and for one of the first times since he could remember he legitimately did not know how his employer and friend would respond.

At this question, Bruce shifted uncomfortably and headed over to the liquor cabinet to pour himself a drink. This job really is beginning to get to him, Alfred thought to himself as he wondered how much longer Bruce Wayne and Batman would be able to coexist before one had to destroy the other.

"At this point, Alfred, I really just do not know. It's the damndest thing, you know. Patterns almost always emerge in these situations, but thus far, not a thing has emerged. He's killed crooks and doctors, his henchmen have mugged beggars and lawyers, and he has struck in the Narrows and uptown Gotham. There's just no way to anticipate his next move." With this Bruce let out a long groan and slumped down on the couch and took a long drag from his bourbon.

"Don't worry sir, I'm sure things will be looking up for you, these things just tend to take time. And besides, you received a phone call today while you were out."

"Today? Who would call me here during the day, everyone knows where I work."

"Miss Dawes, sir. She called around noon, didn't want to disturb you at work, said it was nothing big, just wanted to talk to you later on."

"Rachel? Alfred why didn't you tell me" Despite the sound of the words, Alfred knew Bruce was not the least bit upset with him, and that all he would be able to think about was the nature of Rachel's call. "I guess I'd better return that call now" said Bruce, trying to act calmer about the whole ordeal, though Alfred wasn't fooled for a second.

Bruce pulled out his cell phone and dialed Rachel's number from memory just to be certain that he knew it, though it was on the speed dial already.

"Hello?" Rachel Dawes answered from across town, obviously still awake from a long night at the District Attorney's office.

"Rachel? Hi it's Bruce."

"Bruce, it's great to hear from you."

"What's going on?"

"Listen Bruce, I want to talk to you about your job, but I can't really do it right now."

"My job? Is there something Wayne Enterprises can help you out with, you know we're always happy to help the D.A."

"No, not that, actually I meant your OTHER job," Rachel replied quickly, leaving no doubt in her words as to what she was referring.

"Oh, right, well did you want to do it face to face?"

"Yeah I think that would be best, somewhere private preferably."

"Sure, do you want to stop by my office tomorrow afternoon maybe?"

"I have a case tomorrow, but I could come by afterwards, will you still be there around 4?

"Yeah as long as my other job doesn't require my attention."

"That sounds good, I'll see you then."

"Okay see you Rachel."

And, feeling rather happier than he had in several days, Bruce hung up the phone and turned to look at Alfred who was giving Bruce his usual sarcastic smirk which always managed to quickly wipe the glowing look off of Bruce's face. Bruce got up quickly and headed down towards his new and improved basement. Aware of what Alfred was about to say, Bruce shouted behind him, "Don't even start Alfred."

"Sir I swear I don't know what you mean by that."

"Whatever you say Alfred."

"Are you headed back out sir? You do realize it's already getting quite late sir."

"Don't worry Alfred, I'm not going anywhere. I'm in for the evening; I just want to do some analysis based on the evening news and such. I'll be calling it a night soon enough."

"Very good sir."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four 

"Mr. Wayne" came the voice through the intercom.

Bruce looked up from his surveillance work on the Joker murders, and pressed the reply button on the intercom "Yes Helen?"

"Miss Rachel Dawes from the D.A.'s office is here to see you sir."

"Oh great, send her in."

Bruce quickly shoveled his notebook and newspaper clippings into his desk, and quickly X-ed out the report on the Gotham Daily News' website. A knock on the door echoed through the office and in stepped Rachel Dawes dressed in her usual formal attire, clearly on her lunch break from the office.

"Hi Bruce how are you?" She exclaimed, clearly a little nervous about seeing her old friend for the first time in a few weeks.

"Rachel, it's great to see you again" Bruce said as he leaned in for a hug, and received a rather cold return on his attempted sign of affection. "How have you been?"

"Oh Bruce you know better than anyone how busy things have been at the D.A. the last few months. Much of it is thanks to you of course."

"Rachel, I'd rather not get into too many details about what I've been up to in that job."

"Don't worry Bruce I'm not here looking for any inside information. Believe me, I don't want to know those things."

"Okay, well why don't you have a seat and we can talk about whatever it is you came here looking for." Bruce said somewhat hesitantly as he gestured toward the seat across from his desk as he began to worry what exactly Rachel had come here expecting to hear.

"Bruce relax okay? Believe me, I've noticed how little you enjoy talking about this, but I think that we both need to come to terms with what you're doing, and ignoring it is only making things awkward between us. Listen Bruce," Rachel said as she sensed Bruce was about to cut her off, "I'm not here to yell or scold, I'm just trying to make sure that you are still okay. Bruce, you've been doing some awful things recently, and frankly, I'm getting a little concerned for your own well-being." This time, though, Rachel wasn't able to stop Bruce from cutting her off.

"Rachel, I'm fine, got it? I don't need you coming down here telling me about the things I have to do, I'm there, I'm doing it. I'm fine, alright? This city needs me, needs Batman for what he's done for them, and I don't have a choice."

"Bruce you DO have a choice, you CAN stop, this isn't healthy for anyone to act like this for this long. Don't you want to be able to move on? The tide is turning to our side now. You've done your job, we have enough good people now that we don't need Batman. Harvey is terrific, Lieutenant Gordon is as tough as they come. Gotham finally has a chance against these thugs, you no longer have to sacrifice yourself for the good of the city."

"Rachel, please, I just can't do this right now. But trust me when I tell you that Gotham isn't out of the woods yet. Dent and Gordon only have gotten to this point because of me, and without Batman, the mob will come back, and now with this Joker on the loose, who knows what is going to happen next with him. Now please, Rachel, you have to go, I'm not going to sit here arguing with you all day."

"Bruce please," but that was all the farther Rachel would get because at this point Bruce's private phone to which only Alfred had the phone number for emergencies began ringing. Startled by the phone which had almost never been used before, Bruce jumped up and gave a hushed answer as he picked it up. "Alfred what's going on?" In the background of his office, Bruce heard Rachel's phone ring a piercing sound and she quickly flipped it open with the response, "Harvey what's happening?" But Bruce was not able to hear what happened next, as Alfred hurriedly said through the phone, "Master Wayne, it seems the Joker has struck again, actually I should say, is striking again."

"Is?"

"Yes, the police seem to be under the distinct impression that he has hostages held up inside First Gotham National Bank."

Before Bruce could reply he heard Rachel say quickly into her phone, "My God, you're kidding. What are the police waiting for?"

Bruce knew exactly what they were waiting for and quickly said, "Thanks Alfred, I'll be departing from here," and he quickly flipped shut his phone.

"Harvey I'll be right there" Rachel said as she too flipped shut her phone, clearly wanting to get to Bruce before he left.

"Bruce wait a minute, Harvey just told me-"

"Yeah, I know, Rachel, listen, I have to go."

"I know you do Bruce, and it sounds like they need you down there."

"Rachel, I'd love to be able to give this up, but I just can't."

"I know Bruce, but please, please be careful out there. They don't know what this man is capable of yet, he seems to be a total psychopath though."

"I'm certain of that much, let's just see how he is face to face though, and not while he's running away scared." Bruce said in the all-too-familiar growl as he readied himself for what he knew was sure to come next.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five 

The silence inside the bank was deafening. There was an incredible tension in the air that was shared by everyone, even the henchmen inside the bank wearing clown masks. Shared by everyone except one man, that is.

Suddenly, though, the silence was shattered by the ringing of a phone in the back of the bank.

"Hey boss," one of the henchmen, who appeared to be second-in-command, called across the bank toward the manager's office, "we've got a phone call out here."

"Well Marks," came a cold, high voice from the office, "the logical thing to do would be to answer it, isn't it?"

"Yes sir."

Marks, who was a lumbering tower of a man strode quickly towards the phone and nervously answered it.

"Hello?"

"This is Lieutenant James Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department, to whom am I speaking?"

Marks hemmed and hawed for a moment, and Gordon, sensing that he was not speaking to anyone of significance, quickly replied to Marks' nothing answer, "listen, I don't know if you're friend or foe, but I need to speak to the man in charge. Is he there? Is the Joker there for me to talk to?"

Again, Marks froze up, unable to form coherent sentences, before settling on, "Hold on," as his response.

Marks quickly shuffled toward the bank manager's office and called out, "Hey Boss, I need you out here now."

With this, a groan of disdain echoed out of the office, quickly followed by footsteps moving across the marble floor and appearing out of the darkness, clad head to toe in purple with a wicked smile of evil upon his face and an aura of supreme confidence around him stood the source of all this chaos, the Joker himself.

"I knew that job was going to be too tough for you Marks." The Joker yelled at his henchman, mocking him and smiling a wide, despicable grin.

"It's Gordon, he wants to talk to you."

"OF COURSE HE WANTS TO TALK TO ME! Are you serious right now? Who do you think he's going to want to talk to? You?" And with that, the Joker lets loose a deafening cackle, clearly very amused by his own attempt at humor. "What did you tell him Marks?"

"I-I-I told him to hold on."

"Hold On? What the hell does that mean? Are we a customer service line? Hold on? You know what you're supposed to tell him? I'll show you, how about that?"

The Joker walks across the room, picks up the phone, and realizes that Marks hadn't actually even managed to put Gordon on hold. He sighs, shakes his head, and says into the phone, "Thank you for holding for Joker, but we regret to inform he cannot come to the phone right now, please leave your name and number and he'll get right back to you. Have a good day buh-bye," and, clearly satisfied with himself, the Joker slams the phone back into place, hanging up on Gordon. Clearly furious with Marks, the Joker tears the phone out of the wall and smashes it against the wall. "Marks, it's time for you to do something useful. Come here." Clearly eager to try and appease the psychotic villain, Marks comes running towards the Joker who reaches deep inside his purple coat, whips out a gun, aims and fires a round right into Marks' face. "Aahh, much better." He looks sharply at the rest of his henchmen, who are clearly started and says snidely to them, "what were expecting to happen, the gun to shoot out a flag saying BANG! on it?"

Seeming to feel things were resolved, the Joker walks back toward the manager's office and calls out "Jackson, you're in command out here now, please do try to do a little better job than your predecessor."

Outside the bank, Jim Gordon, clearly frustrated by the fact that he had been wildly unsuccessful in his first attempt at contact with the Joker, re-dialed the same number, but this time there was no signal to be found, a clear sign the phone had been disabled.

"Get me the numbers of the other phones inside that bank," Gordon called out, and was instantly rewarded with several new numbers to call.

"Gordon, hold on a second," came the familiar voice of Police Commissioner Hughes. "What's the story Jim?"

"The Joker and roughly 10 of his men have taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 civilians hostage."

"How did we get these numbers?"

"We tapped into the surveillance camera footage. Before you even bother asking, I'll tell you that the Joker had his men disable the cameras before he entered the building, so we still don't have any clue what the real Joker looks like, and all his men had on clown masks."

"Have we tried making contact," was the police commissioner's next question, though Gordon was hoping that it wouldn't be.

"Yes, I just tried, sir, but was quite unsuccessful."

"What happened?"

"Well I got through to one of the underlings inside and he couldn't have been any less competent, so I asked for the Joker, and he went off to try to find him and forgot to put me on hold. I heard the Joker berating him in the background, and then he picked the phone up and promptly did an impersonation of an answering machine before hanging up on me. It seems that phone has since been disabled."

"So, wait a minute, you actually spoke to the Joker? Well, congratulations Jim because you are the first one to have recorded contact with the man. On the down side, though Jim, I don't think I have to tell you that isn't quite the result we hoped for in our first contact with him."

"Listen what else could I have done there, he didn't give me a chance to speak," Gordon protested, but was quickly quieted as Hughes continued on as if he hadn't heard Gordon speak at all.

"We need to keep trying, try the other lines if that one has been disabled. He's waiting, but if he doesn't want to talk to us, or at least is making it seem as if he doesn't want to talk to us then there must be something else that he has in mind." Hughes said as he began to think out loud.

"Agreed" was the only reply Gordon would give.

"What could he be waiting on then?" Hughes seemed vexed at this thought, but his train of thought was quickly interrupted by a clamor in the background.

Gordon stood up at this moment and said aloud to the commissioner, "maybe it's not WHAT he's waiting for commish, but WHOM.

Hughes turned around to see where Gordon and the rest of the crowd were looking, and saw a lone figure walking towards them from next to the bank, Batman had at last come for what seemed like his inevitable showdown with the Joker.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six 

All that could be heard at this point were shouts from the increasingly large crowd of on-lookers as they cheered for the appearance of Batman.

"Well, well, look who decided to show up and to lend us a hand," said Commissioner Hughes, clearly not overly pleased with the appearance of the Caped Crusader. "Listen Batman," he said as the much larger man approached, "this is a hostage negotiation, something you are not the least bit trained for. It requires skill and precision, you are for force and brutality. You are not necessary here."

"Hughes, without me, you wouldn't even be alive, so don't try me on whether or not I should be here. The Joker has to be stopped now before things begin to get out of hand. And lucky for me, I'm not one of your lapdogs who has to obey your every word."

"Don't even think about it, Batman. I'll have you arrested on the spot."

"Oh yeah?" Batman looks around at the surrounding officers and says, "which one of you wants to be the first one to do it? I'd love to see you try." Seeing the officers back away slowly, Batman turns toward the commissioner and says "well I guess that plan's not going to work. See you around Commish," and with that he heads off toward the bank, quickly scaling a side wall and going up onto the rooftop of the bank.

Gordon walks away from the commissioner and picks up a phone near one of the police vans. He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and dials a number for the bank. After two rings, a high, cold voice which Gordon immediately recognized picked up the phone.

"Who is this?" The Joker demanded as soon as he picked up the phone.

"This is Lieutenant James Gordon of the Gotham Police. The Joker I presume?"

"Why, yes, Lieutenant, if that is the name you want to call me then I am your Joker."

"What are you doing in there? What is the situation? How many hostages, and is everyone still alive?"

"Well, Lieutenant, if you are looking for demands and negotiations, I have bad news for you, I'm just not interested. No, I'm not looking for financial reward or guarantee of safe passage. Robbery isn't the name of my game, that's just something extra I thrown in, sort of a like the cherry on my sundae, if you will. No, death and destruction that is the name of my game."

"So what are your plans for the hostages?"

"Did I not just make myself perfectly clear? Listen to me you worthless pig, I plan to kill several of these hostages, possibly all, and walk right out of here on my own terms and without any threat of incarceration. Understand? The Joker is here to stay, death and destruction Lieutenant Gordon, get used to it."

Before Gordon could so much as utter a reply the Joker hung up on him. Smiling maniacally to himself he leaves the manager's office and walks out into the lobby to see all of hostages and to brief his crew in on the situation.

"Men, listen up. Make no mistake, they will be coming in here, guns blazing. You know the plan when that happens, and you also know that there is nothing that they could possibly do to stop once it is underway. It is perfect. As for you hostages, do not worry, soon this will all be over." The Joker began to stroll away, but seemed to be unable to resist the urge and turned around to face the hostages once again. "Oh and when I say that it will soon be over, what I really mean is that it will soon be over for each of you. Permanently." Absolutely reveling in the situation, the Joker throws back his head and gives a high shrill laugh of joy that sends several of the hostages in the room into writhing fits of desperation.

As he begins strolling back into the office, though, the Joker hears a creaking noise in the ceiling above him and he smiles with his back to everyone in the room and continues on his way. "Jackson, get in here now" he calls and closes the door as his top henchman enters the room behind him.

Staring down at the sinister Joker through a ceiling vent from above, Batman sees his adversary pacing in the manager's office, not making any moves yet. Why isn't he readying for an escape, or at least readying for battle, Batman thought to himself from above. He couldn't place it, but Batman knew something wasn't right, and knew that since he had disobeyed Commissioner Hughes, the SWAT team would be working out an assault on the building, and could be coming in at any moment. He needed to get in touch with the police and let them know that the assault needed to be canceled immediately. Reaching ever so slowly into his utility belt, he pulled out a cell phone and dialed Jim Gordon's direct line.

"Gordon here" said the lieutenant from outside the building.

"Gordon, it's me, you need to listen to me, SWAT can NOT come in here right now, something is seriously wrong."

"Batman? What do you mean? Jim, listen, something is seriously wrong. Joker has to know we're planning an assault, but he doesn't seem worried, hell he seems excited. I think he even knows that I'm in here right now."

"Listen Hughes isn't exactly going to be excited to hear that you are giving him orders. In case you hadn't noticed-"

"Just trust me, Gordon, if SWAT comes in here there will-" but that was all the further that Batman would get in his sentence. The ceiling in which he was hiding was suddenly being riddled with bullets from a machine gun. He felt two hit him square in the back and was thankful for his reinforced suit to help stop the bullets. Still, too many shots would weaken the suit and eventually the bullets would not be stopped by the suit. He needed to move now or chances are he wouldn't survive. Realizing that there was nowhere to hide up here, Batman yanked the first thing he could feel from his utility belt and dropped a smoke bomb down through one of the holes created by the bullets, hoping it would handicap the shooter long enough.

Batman kicked through the vent and dropped down into the main floor of the bank right outside the manager's office.

He quickly looked around but the smoke had done its job a little too well, as he couldn't see more than a foot in front of his face. He stumbled into the shooter and tossed him into the pillar in the bank, rendering him unconscious.

However, as soon as Batman turned around, three men in clown masks were on him, and Batman was thrown through a glass window into the manager's office. Once inside there, he tried to sit up but the darkness of the office made it difficult for him to see where he was going. And then, seeming as if it came from the darkness itself, he heard it. A vile, high-pitched laugh that made his stomach turn. It's him, Bruce thought to himself as he tried to get up, it's the Joker.

Bloodied by the shards of glass and weakened by the bullets and the fall from the ceiling, Batman was barely able to stand, and almost as soon as he made it to his feet, his was sent reeling by a strong blow to the face followed by a blunt object into his ribs that sent him stumbling out of the office and back out into the light.

The smoke had cleared by now and Batman turned around to face the doorway of the manager's office, and out of the shadows emerged his attacker, and at last, Batman and the Joker came face to face.

"So, you must be the Bat. Allow me to introduce myself, the media has taken to calling me the Joker, a name I rather enjoy, so we'll stick with that for now. Tell me Batman, why do you hide your face? I mean of the two of us, I'm the only one with acid burns covering my face, badly scarred cheeks, and green hair. So why do you hide your face? Are you ashamed, or just plain scared? Well soon enough the world will know your identity when they play your smoking carcass from the wreckage that will soon be this bank. As for me, I don't much care who you are. I won't be giving you my real name, so certainly I wouldn't dare force you to tell me yours."

Seemingly still in shock from the appearance of the Joker and the generally evil aura that surrounded him, Batman was unable to react momentarily before finally coming to his full senses. "What's your plan here, Joker? You do realize the entire Gotham police force is out there don't you? You do understand that when they sweep in here with the wrath of god you won't stand a chance with your pathetic crew of 10 lowly henchmen."

"Batman, you disappoint me. I understood you to be a smart man, and intelligent crime fighter, but if that were the case, surely you would know that I wouldn't dream of engaging the police here. Instead, I think I'll just kill the ones who try to come in, kill all these hostages in here, and preoccupy the ones outside with the carnage that will be created when SWAT tries to break in. You see Bats, this building is only 3 floors tall, and since I have gone to every effort to make it appear as though I haven't even touched the top two floors, I guarantee SWAT will make their entrance there. And because of such action, well I hate to give away the whole plot line, but suffice it to say, the fireworks will be something to see, of course, I intend to give you a front seat to this evening's proceedings. Jackson, stand him up, now."

With the order from his boss, Jackson reached down and pulled Batman up and held his arms back as the Joker delivered a crushing kick to Batman's midsection, and then followed that up by grabbing a billy club from the security guard and delivering repeated blows to Batman's face with the weapon.

Outside the bank, Commissioner Hughes, upon seeing the smoke dissipating toward the front door of the bank from Batman's smoke bomb became very concerned and immediately called the SWAT team together and gave them the green light to go inside.

"Listen, Commssioner," Gordon said as he heard Hughes bellowing the orders to the SWAT team, "I'm not sure this is the best idea."

"Jesus Christ, Jim, what are you talking about? Not the right idea? Where do you get off telling me what is and isn't the right idea? What do you know that makes you think you're right?"

"Batman."

"Batman? What is he up to now? The man just complicates our job sometimes, and you know it Jim. He's a rogue vigilante who complicates things because of his brutality and his refusal to listen to directions. He can't be depended upon."

"Dammit Richard," cried Gordon, surprised at himself for using the police commissioner's first name, "Gotham would be in ruin right now if it weren't for him, and if there's one man in this town who I do trust in this kind of situation, it's him and if says we shouldn't go in, then I believe him."

"Jim get the hell out of my sight," Hughes said as he turned back to the SWAT commander, "SWAT has the green light to move in from the roof into the third floor. Go when ready."

The commander relayed the message, and the SWAT team snuck up the back of the building, and being that it was now dark outside, they were able to do so much more confidently than they would have been before.

Jim Gordon stormed away from the crime scene and as he did so, he bumped into the last man on the planet he wanted to see, Anthony Reese.

"Lieutenant-"

"Dammit Reese not now" was the only reply Gordon could muster.

"Lieutenant our cameras saw that confrontation between you and Commissioner Hughes moments ago, does it have anything to do with Batman showing up here today and entering the building to assist the police?" Reese immediately saw that Gordon wasn't going to reply to this, so he pushed further. "Jim are you trying to say that you think Batman does a better job than the police by storming away from Hughes like this?" Still no response. "Fine, then, it sounds to me like Lieutenant Gordon is at odds with Commissioner Hughes, and then Gordon is forming an alliance with Batman against the Commissioner." That did it, Reese knew, as Gordon spun around and came right toward Reese. This will be spectacular, the reporter thought, but before he knew it, he was being thrown to the ground by the officer and handcuffed. "What are you doing, Gordon? Are you out of your damn mind? You can't do this to me, I've done nothing wrong. I'll have the city's ass for this." Gordon remained silent but grabbed Reese by the neck and dragged him towards the paddy wagon and tossed him inside and shut the door behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

Up on the roof of the bank, the SWAT commander double-checked to ensure that all his men were in place for the all-out assault. The commander had to admit to himself, though, that he was a little surprised that the commissioner had been so quick to order SWAT. Sure they had heard gunfire and seen evidence of a smoke bomb, but no hostages had yet been determined to be dead, and there was also the fact that Batman was still inside the building, somewhere, and that only probably should have been enough to hold off SWAT for now. 

"Commander Walls, this is Commissioner Hughes, you have the green light, repeat, green light, go when ready."

"Roger that commissioner, teams check in with status." Commander Walls replied into his radio and listened intently as the three separate teams all checked confirming that, yes, they were in place and ready for the assault.

The door on the roof was quickly breached, but almost immediately an explosion could be heard downstairs in the bank, and suddenly the objective changed. Stealth and surprise were no longer weapons that could be used, as they had to assume their presence was known down below. Quickly scaling the steps, another explosion was heard right in front of them, and scattered across the stairs on the second floor was the SWAT team that had been assigned to smash through the second floor windows. This was clearly the source of the first explosion and the members were all badly burned and some appeared to already be dead.

"Jesus" was the only reply Hughes heard through the radio as he frantically screamed for updates to his SWAT team. Before he heard any reply though, he could hear panic rising from the surrounding area, and looking at the front door of the bank, he instantly saw the reason for this reaction. The lobby of the bank was engulfed in flames.

"Ground SWAT team swarm the building, repeat, swarm the building, now. All-out assault, stealth is no longer an option."

As the first members of the SWAT team reached the front door though, a third explosion came quite unexpectedly at the front door, creating a massive hole in the front of the bank and tossing the officers back several yards, a likely fatal moment for many of them.

Upstairs, Commander Walls continued to try to lead his team through the wreckage, and finally managed to scale the final few steps. Walls kicked through the door and saw the incredible chaos in the lobby before him. Looking quickly around, he saw a familiar figure struggling to free himself from ropes. Knowing that he would need any kind of help that he could get, Walls pulled a knife from his belt and sliced through the ropes, freeing Batman.

Batman jumped up immediately, and though he was badly wounded, he immediately took over the rescue effort. "The Joker and his men rigged the building with bombs, I don't know how many, so we need to be careful, there could be more anywhere."

"The Joker, where is he?"

"I don't know, when the bombs started going off, he and his men went up the stairs you just came down. Are you telling me you didn't see them anywhere?"

"No, there was no sign of them anywhere." Walls seemed utterly perplexed by this thought, but quickly lost his train of thought as he looked around the bank. "Wait a minute, there were supposed to be 25 hostages in here, where are they?"

"They took a lot with them, and lined about five of them against the front door," Batman said as he pointed to the spot where the most recent bomb had detonated, and almost certainly killed all five. "Don't even bother," Batman said as Walls took a step towards the wreckage. "They didn't stand a chance once that bomb detonated."

"Jesus, what is wrong with this guy." Walls and the handful of the other SWAT officers seemed to be unable to comprehend what had happened.

"Commander, we've got to go, we need to find the Joker, and I don't know that I can do it without you."

After a moment's hesitation as he looked around at the carnage, Walls regained his focus and shouted to his men "Alright men you heard him, let's hunt this sicko down and make him pay."

Batman flung the door open and quickly discovered that the fire had spread to the remainder of the building. Trying to maneuver around the flames, Batman led the way to the second floor, and, kicked open the door to the offices on this floor. He peered around into the darkness and saw nothing, but after just a few steps forward Batman knew they had fallen right into another one of the Joker's traps. From across the room Batman heard the malicious cackle for the second time and Batman watched in shock as small explosions went up all around him and quickly realized what the trap was. "Get back, BACK" he shouted to the SWAT team, and he snatched the grappling hook from his belt. Shooting it up into the ceiling above him, and hoping that it would hold him, Batman swung across the hole that had exploded around him and swung right toward the area where he had heard the Joker's laugh come from.

He landed in the pitch black and saw no sign of the maniac and desperate to confront his nemesis he screamed "JOKER!" into the darkness, but still no sign of him anywhere. Suddenly though, the laughter was right next to him. Startled by the noise, Batman bent down toward the sound and was disgusted to discover a speaker through which the sound had been coming. Batman bent down to pick up the speaker, and immediately regretted it. The speaker suddenly began to flash on the back, and realizing what was about to happen, Batman tossed the bomb down through the massive hole in the floor. Seconds later the floor shook with the force of the exploding bomb. Batman swung back across the hole, and back over to the doorway through which he had entered and practically ran directly into Jim Gordon as he did so.

"Gordon what's going on?"

"Jesus I can't believe you're still alive in here. There's dead bodies all over this place, it's pandemonium here."

"What's happened?"

"We tried to rush the front door after SWAT failed to penetrate. A bomb went off and killed half the team. The front of the building began to crumble and there was no way in. Then we heard some bombs going off inside and there was no way in. We were trying to dig through the wreckage to find a way inside because we were too afraid to try to make any more roads into the bank. Because all the cops were trying to dig through the wreckage we didn't notice when a fleet of Hummers tore through the police barricades and armed men started picking off cops one by one. The Joker and his men repelled off the top floor of the bank with hostages and threatened to kill the hostages if we followed them. Good God, they threw grenades at the cop cars as they left, there was no way to get on their trail quick enough, and last I heard there was no sign of them."

"No Sign? How? How can that be? DAMMIT! They didn't just disappear Gordon, get some men out there looking for them." Batman kicked through the door to the roof with such frustration it flew off the hinges.

"Listen to me, you don't understand what's going on down there. We've got more dead officers then we can count, they disabled most of our cruisers, and even the ones who aren't dead are mostly injured. We called all cars when SWAT rushed the building, they just flat out outplayed everyone here Batman, including you, so don't you dare try to give me orders."

Finally walking out onto the roof, Batman was able to get the full scope of the wreckage and seemed unable to react to everything he saw beneath him. It's true, he thought as he surveyed the territory, the Joker really did outplay and outthink us. "This is terrible, I-I don't know what to say Jim."

"I know, neither do I."


End file.
